I honestly debated for a few days if I should post this or not because I didn’t want it to come across as bashing the Dealership selling this Gallardo Vs saving a potential buyer a nightmare experience after getting it. I know I would have greatly appreciated seeing something like this before I almost bought it myself so decided to share some critical details of my experience with this Gallardo because I'm sure it is getting a lot of attention due to the spec and mileage. I would hate to see the new owner being a member here (or anyone for that matter) that wasn't lucky enough to notice or find these details until it was too late.
I’ve been looking for an 08 Spyder for some time now, when this one popped up on my AutoTrader alerts I was beyond excited as it matched 90% of what I wanted and was even less than 2 hours away. After a few phone calls and text messages, I made an offer and was ready to drive over to get it that day! As I was making arrangements for it I got an alert it was listed on CarGurus as well. I'm glad I took the time to look at it while I was on hold, I was literally in the middle of making arrangements to move the funds to purchase this one! You may or may not know that CarGurus does not use CarFax for its listings, it uses AutoCheck as its primary reporting bureau. The Dealership pushed that this Gallardo was perfect inside and out, no accidents, flawless paint, all original, said it been in storage for 3 years, hardly used, was one the owners (of the Dealership) personal cars...said all the things you would hope for and gave me the CarFax when I asked. Unfortunately (but fortunately), the excitement of this Gallardo being the one quickly ended as the next two hours of phone call after phone calls just kept revealing more bad news each time.
When looking at the CarGurus ad I noticed at the bottom of it that they flagged the VIN for an accident(s) history. I asked the Sales Manager I was working with about it and he seemed a little annoyed that I was questioning it after getting the CarFax and said something along the lines that it was most likely an error, things like that can happen, everyone goes by CarFax reports and not other “smaller ones”, that the car is showroom condition, etc. I looked through the CarFax again closer and I guess with being caught up in the initial excitement of finding the one so close to me I didn’t notice there was not a single service record on the report. I reached back out to him back and started to go through the normal questions of service history, snap test/report, etc. Was a bit surprised that he has nothing for it! He finally came around and said that the owner hardly uses it, it sits in the storage area with other cars of his and has only put around 1k miles on it the 3 years its been there. Ends up it hasn’t been serviced in the 3 years of it being there, not even a record or knowledge of an oil change! You guys know well that with it being 13 years old let alone stored for 3 years it should have at least had oil changes, brake fluid, differential flush, and an egear service/check, etc. done to it, another series of red flags. I asked about the accident history again, kept saying that the CarFax is clean, that's what everyone goes by, but if I wanted to still move forward on the car to make another offer we’ll see what we can do to wrap it up. I asked him for the full AutoCheck report, he said they don’t have one and don’t use that service since everyone goes by CarFax. I pointed out that the CarFax recorded that they bought it from the PA Manheim auction and asked if they had a paint reader/meter, I said anyone that buys from auctions usually takes the 1 minute of walking around the car to get a quick read on the panels while they are in the lanes or on the preview, that this is a very common practice, and asked if we could do a FaceTime call so he could just do a walk around with me and this would instantly confirm if there is paint/bodywork anywhere on the car for the validity of the accident ding on the VIN, that we could move from the topic if nothing reads thick, and wrap up the deal. He said they don’t do that for their cars and they don’t have one...come on, what dealership does not have a paint meter on hand or says they don't check their cars for this....so I just told him I need to research this more on my own since he doesn't have the key details and would let him know if I still want to move forward afterward.
I'm just going to summarize the remaining details as it would be too much type out explaining how many calls and how much time went into this one. After I got back to him advising what I was able to find out and I would be passing on the Gallardo, they did a few questionable actions with their listings/ads as well.
- On 1/19/2015 in Hempstead, NY the Gallardo was indeed involved in a multi-vehicle accident with multiple impacts to it. A police report is on file detailing the accident, however, the police dept there was not able to provide a full copy of it as its already been archived due to timeframe. But was able to get enough basics from it though to paint a very clear picture that this Gallardo is not a $110k example that he was asking for. There were multiple cars involved in this accident and the Gallardo was hit by more than one of them. The damage was body and mechanical, it had to be towed away from the scene, could not operate on its own. The weather that day was approx 40* with a mix of rain and snow, 1+ inches of snow on the ground.
- After sharing these details and advising him I was going to pass on it, his only reply was “ok” and our communication stopped. No more calls or texts, it ended with his "ok". Since that conversation, some of the ads for it have been deleted and/or replaced with new ones. The price is now $10k less than the original ones were, has new details/descriptions, but nothing for/about the accident as a new known detail, and still listing it as a clean worry-free CarFax.
Even though there were some pretty questionable responses or details from the Dealership this post is not to trash them specifically, but rather inform you as a potential buyer of this Gallardo and ensure you are well aware of its history and the several red flags through my experience and time with it so you don’t have to. I can't say for sure if the seller did or did not know about the accident history but at the end of the day, it's now known for anyone else taking the time to search out this VIN. I hope this post pops up and helps out a lot. The bottom line facts on this one are that it has not been serviced properly (at all!) in the last 3 years and has been in a pretty major Winter accident that involved multiple vehicles, received multiple impacts, could not be operated, and was flat bedded away. This Gallardo is far from a $110k example!
I’ve been looking for an 08 Spyder for some time now, when this one popped up on my AutoTrader alerts I was beyond excited as it matched 90% of what I wanted and was even less than 2 hours away. After a few phone calls and text messages, I made an offer and was ready to drive over to get it that day! As I was making arrangements for it I got an alert it was listed on CarGurus as well. I'm glad I took the time to look at it while I was on hold, I was literally in the middle of making arrangements to move the funds to purchase this one! You may or may not know that CarGurus does not use CarFax for its listings, it uses AutoCheck as its primary reporting bureau. The Dealership pushed that this Gallardo was perfect inside and out, no accidents, flawless paint, all original, said it been in storage for 3 years, hardly used, was one the owners (of the Dealership) personal cars...said all the things you would hope for and gave me the CarFax when I asked. Unfortunately (but fortunately), the excitement of this Gallardo being the one quickly ended as the next two hours of phone call after phone calls just kept revealing more bad news each time.
When looking at the CarGurus ad I noticed at the bottom of it that they flagged the VIN for an accident(s) history. I asked the Sales Manager I was working with about it and he seemed a little annoyed that I was questioning it after getting the CarFax and said something along the lines that it was most likely an error, things like that can happen, everyone goes by CarFax reports and not other “smaller ones”, that the car is showroom condition, etc. I looked through the CarFax again closer and I guess with being caught up in the initial excitement of finding the one so close to me I didn’t notice there was not a single service record on the report. I reached back out to him back and started to go through the normal questions of service history, snap test/report, etc. Was a bit surprised that he has nothing for it! He finally came around and said that the owner hardly uses it, it sits in the storage area with other cars of his and has only put around 1k miles on it the 3 years its been there. Ends up it hasn’t been serviced in the 3 years of it being there, not even a record or knowledge of an oil change! You guys know well that with it being 13 years old let alone stored for 3 years it should have at least had oil changes, brake fluid, differential flush, and an egear service/check, etc. done to it, another series of red flags. I asked about the accident history again, kept saying that the CarFax is clean, that's what everyone goes by, but if I wanted to still move forward on the car to make another offer we’ll see what we can do to wrap it up. I asked him for the full AutoCheck report, he said they don’t have one and don’t use that service since everyone goes by CarFax. I pointed out that the CarFax recorded that they bought it from the PA Manheim auction and asked if they had a paint reader/meter, I said anyone that buys from auctions usually takes the 1 minute of walking around the car to get a quick read on the panels while they are in the lanes or on the preview, that this is a very common practice, and asked if we could do a FaceTime call so he could just do a walk around with me and this would instantly confirm if there is paint/bodywork anywhere on the car for the validity of the accident ding on the VIN, that we could move from the topic if nothing reads thick, and wrap up the deal. He said they don’t do that for their cars and they don’t have one...come on, what dealership does not have a paint meter on hand or says they don't check their cars for this....so I just told him I need to research this more on my own since he doesn't have the key details and would let him know if I still want to move forward afterward.
I'm just going to summarize the remaining details as it would be too much type out explaining how many calls and how much time went into this one. After I got back to him advising what I was able to find out and I would be passing on the Gallardo, they did a few questionable actions with their listings/ads as well.
- On 1/19/2015 in Hempstead, NY the Gallardo was indeed involved in a multi-vehicle accident with multiple impacts to it. A police report is on file detailing the accident, however, the police dept there was not able to provide a full copy of it as its already been archived due to timeframe. But was able to get enough basics from it though to paint a very clear picture that this Gallardo is not a $110k example that he was asking for. There were multiple cars involved in this accident and the Gallardo was hit by more than one of them. The damage was body and mechanical, it had to be towed away from the scene, could not operate on its own. The weather that day was approx 40* with a mix of rain and snow, 1+ inches of snow on the ground.
- After sharing these details and advising him I was going to pass on it, his only reply was “ok” and our communication stopped. No more calls or texts, it ended with his "ok". Since that conversation, some of the ads for it have been deleted and/or replaced with new ones. The price is now $10k less than the original ones were, has new details/descriptions, but nothing for/about the accident as a new known detail, and still listing it as a clean worry-free CarFax.
Even though there were some pretty questionable responses or details from the Dealership this post is not to trash them specifically, but rather inform you as a potential buyer of this Gallardo and ensure you are well aware of its history and the several red flags through my experience and time with it so you don’t have to. I can't say for sure if the seller did or did not know about the accident history but at the end of the day, it's now known for anyone else taking the time to search out this VIN. I hope this post pops up and helps out a lot. The bottom line facts on this one are that it has not been serviced properly (at all!) in the last 3 years and has been in a pretty major Winter accident that involved multiple vehicles, received multiple impacts, could not be operated, and was flat bedded away. This Gallardo is far from a $110k example!
for CarFax on this one!!
